WWUTT 1303 I Will Call My People (Romans 9:25-29)

God has predestined from before the foundation of the world whom he would save and whom he would destroy. And he has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. When we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily study of God's word that we may be filled with the knowledge of his will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of Romans 9 and we'll start out by reading verses 19 through 29. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump, one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

Even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. As indeed he says in Hosea, those who were not my people, I will call my people. And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved.

And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.

For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.

Expository Apologetics and Paul’s Answer to Objections

I've got this book in front of me here. It's from Vody Bakom. It's called Expository Apologetics, answering objections with the power of the word. And at the beginning of this book, Vody gives a very brief explanation as to what expository apologetics are.

And the example that he uses is Romans. It's the way Paul answers questions, answers those arguments in the book of Romans. Romans 9, 19, the way that we started off this section, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?

Paul is anticipating the argument to the doctrine of God's sovereign election that he's been laying out. And he answers those objections with the power of the word. Because then what does Paul go on to say?

He says, who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this? This example of the potter and the clay, he is the potter and we are the clay.

He borrows that from the prophets. As we looked at that earlier this week, Isaiah and Jeremiah make that same analogy as well. So he responds, he answers objections with the word of God. And that's what Vody Bauckham, Dr. Bauckham does a lot in his preaching.

He will preach and then he will say, now I know what you're saying. And then he'll say exactly what everybody's thinking in response to what it was that he just said or what it was he was preaching. And then he just points right back to the word of God.

It's a great book, I encourage you to pick it up. But it was the way that the apostle Paul responds to objections that inspired Vody Bauckham to teach the same way. So check out that book, Expository Apologetics.

Mercy to Jews and Gentiles in Romans 9

We're seeing that on display here in Romans 9 as we have been going through this. Now the examples that Paul has been using about those whom God shows mercy to, as he says in verse 18, God has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills.

His examples of mercy have been those who are descended from Abraham and those of promise specifically, because it was Isaac not Ishmael, it was Jacob not Esau. And then the example that Paul gives regarding those whom God hardens is Pharaoh, who was a Gentile.

So so far it looks like we have God's mercy is upon Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his hardening or God hardens those who are Gentiles. But then Paul responds to that in verse 24 by saying, even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles regarding those who receive mercy.

So God desires to show his wrath and make known his power, enduring with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Verse 23, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.

So we know here that God's plan of mercy for those whom he has elected for salvation, he has chosen not just those who were of an ethnic line, the descendants, the physical descendants of Abraham, but even a spiritual line, the spiritual descendants of Abraham as we have in Galatians chapter three.

If we are in Christ, we are likewise Abraham's offspring. So God has chosen to show mercy to not just certain persons that he's chosen from among the Jews, but even persons that he has chosen among the Gentiles.

Now he's gonna get to later on in chapter 11, he's gonna mention that a hardening has come upon Israel, a partial hardening, meaning that not all of Israel is hardened, but most of them are. They have rejected the Christ.

So only some of them have come to faith in Jesus Christ, not everybody. So therefore you couldn't say that all of Israel has been chosen just because they are descended from Abraham. And that's the way a lot of the Jews believed.

Because I am of the line of Abraham, then therefore I am chosen of God. I am the people of God. And God has all these promises for me, and the Gentiles get these promises whenever they bless me. That's not how that goes.

And Paul is laying that out here. He's been laying that out in Romans even earlier where he says that even Jews and Gentiles have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are only justified by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, whom he gave as a propitiation for our sins.

So when we believe in Jesus, that's how a person is saved and no other way, not because they're descended from Abraham, but because they believe in Christ. So this is the mercy of God that's been displayed for us.

Jesus Christ, whom he gave, who submitted willingly to the Father, who died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the grave so that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. And we are of the people of God when we believe in Jesus.

How do you know that you have been chosen for salvation by God? Because you believe in Christ. So God has chosen to show mercy, not just to those from among the Jews, but even also from among the Gentiles.

Paul’s Question Is Not Hypothetical

Now, before I move on, before I go on to verse 25, I want to point something out here. This is a question and it started back in verse 22. So this question started in 22 and it ends, the question mark is at the end of verse 24.

Verse 22, what if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?

Question, question mark, right? So it's three verses, a question that stretches across three verses. I was sharing this online. I don't remember when this was, last year or the year before, somewhere in there.

But someone said to me, Paul is presenting a hypothetical question. He's not stating that God predestines some for salvation and he predestines others for wrath. He's asking a hypothetical question. And that's what this person said to me.

And I responded to him and I said, this is not a hypothetical question. A hypothetical question is based on a hypothesis, which is exactly why we call it a hypothetical question. And a hypothesis is a guess.

It's a guess that's been informed by facts, but it's still a guess that somebody is presenting that they are then going to test that guess or that theory. Paul is not theorizing here. He's stating something matter of fact to his audience, but he's choosing to phrase it as a question because of how hard hitting he knows this truth is.

And so as a good shepherd, as a pastor, he's being very pastoral in the way that he presents this, knowing the audience that he is talking to, rather than choosing to just knock them in the face with this doctrine of God's sovereign election that's already difficult for us to fathom or wrap our minds around, even when we choose to believe it.

But in the case of how he's addressing this immature flock, really struggling with concepts of like how God has chosen Jews and how God has chosen Gentiles, because we've seen those kinds of things stated all the way through this letter and we've got more of it to come.

So he's presenting these things to them as questions so that in gentleness, delivering hard truths in gentleness that the sheep may ponder the magnificencies of the shepherd. So verse 21 has the potter, no right over the clay to make out of the same lump, one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use.

What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power? We're stating something matter of factly there about God. Does God desire to show his wrath and make known his power? This is not a question that's being presented that on the other side of it, the person is able to go, no, no, that's not what's going on here.

Paul's an apostle, so he's speaking as an apostle, an apostle of Jesus Christ who carries the word of Christ. What he's presenting here is the doctrine of God. So what if God desiring to show his wrath and make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

That's predestination there, folks. He has prepared them for destruction. Remember the example we have going back to Pharaoh and as the Romans are hearing this read to them, this would have come back into their mind, the example that Paul had just given.

Verse 17, for the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So God prepared Pharaoh for that.

And as we see come up over and over again in the book of Exodus, he hardened Pharaoh's heart for that. Now, people who contend with the doctrine of God's sovereign election will say that Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God judiciously hardened Pharaoh's heart further.

But that's not the sequence of events as we see it play out in the book of Exodus. 19 times in Exodus do we see the phrase that either Pharaoh hardened his heart or Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And the first time we see it mentioned is Exodus 4 .21, when God says to Moses, I will harden Pharaoh's heart.

The next time we see it as Exodus 7 .3, God says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. The next three occasions are all in Exodus 7 and it says that Pharaoh's heart was hardened and it's not until Exodus 8 .15 where it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.

And there are only three occurrences of those 19 times where it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Indeed, Pharaoh did harden his heart. He hated God and he was gonna do anything contrary to God. Yes, he made that choice and he was gonna be judged for that.

But we know that Pharaoh made that choice because God first hardened his heart. Remember the passage that I read to you yesterday from Joshua 11, where God hardened the hearts of the Canaanites so that they would come under the sword of the Israelites and be judged by them.

God hardened their hearts to make an example of them for destruction, that God's glory would be seen even in the destruction of his enemies. We see in the book of Revelation, God's glory being displayed in the destruction of his enemies and the people of God praising him for that as well.

We will praise God because he destroys his enemies. Anyway, let's come back to the question here again as we're breaking this down. What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, verse 23, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

And that once again, all of this is going exactly to plan. Everything that's happening in the world right now, I know this is hard to believe, it's difficult to fathom, which is exactly why Paul presents this as a question like this, because he's gently explaining this with his hearers.

But everything that's happening in the world right now is going exactly according to God's plan. Nothing is happening outside of what God has decreed from before the foundation of the world. And he is working in the ways and means to bring about what he has predestined.

And he has chosen to show mercy to an elect that he is calling out from sinful man for himself, even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. That's what we have there in verse 24.

And then Paul explains that with scripture. He goes back to the Old Testament and explain that further, verse 25, as indeed he says in Hosea, those who were not my people, I will call my people. We who were Gentiles who were not called the people of God.

The Jews were called the people of God. Israel was the people of God, not Gentiles, but as was predestined, as was prophesied through the prophets, those who were not my people, I will call my people.

And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, they will be called sons of the living God. And we're not talking about Israel here, even though when you go to Hosea, that's who it looks like we're talking about.

But Paul is showing that we're talking about Jews and Gentiles, since this is responding to the statement he just made in verse 24. Even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.

The Gentiles were not called the people of God, but we are now by faith in Christ. Those who were not my people, I will call my people. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. So then Paul mentioned specifically Israel here, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.

So this goes back to the beginning of Romans 9, where Paul was talking about how the majority of the Jews don't believe. They have rejected the Christ. Is this because God's purpose and his call of election is not being accomplished?

Did he fail in his plan somehow to save the Jews? No, because it was prophesied, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved. Because once again, as he stated earlier, not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.

For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay on the earth, everybody, Jew and Gentile. And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah, meaning everybody would have been wiped out and destroyed.

Sodom and Gomorrah weren't Jews. So even among the Jews, if God had not chosen to save a remnant, they all would have been wiped out like Sodom and Gomorrah. God said that Judah and Jerusalem itself had become like Sodom and Gomorrah.

When you go back and read Ezekiel chapter 16, but God was merciful and he chose to save a remnant for himself from the Jews and also from the Gentiles. And we'll expand on that more as we continue on from there, but that's as far as we'll get in Romans nine for this week.

Remember back to verse 11, this is in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works, not because of our works, but because of him who calls. God does not arbitrarily choose one person and just randomly disregard another, whether we're talking about entire nations or we're talking about individual persons.

As C .S. Lewis wrote in his book, A Grief Observed, God would not allow one set of events to happen to one person and completely disregard another set of events that happens to another person or how the events that happen to one person affect another person.

It's not like God is focusing on these events with this person and not even concerning himself with how those events would affect somebody else. God has ordained the end and he has ordained the means to that end.

And he is even working through those means to bring about the end that he decreed before the foundation of the world. God doesn't just work in the macro, like the big stuff. God works in the micro. He works in little tiny details, far more intimate than we ever think about in most of the moments of our waking day.

In the what's and where's and why's and how's that we never ask because they're so minutely insignificant to us, God is working his will to his glory in each person and in each grouping of persons. You might look at the things that are happening in your nation and you're like just filled with anxiety.

God is still there, even in the midst of that situation, working exactly what he has foreordained to take place. Trust in God, do not despair, trust in God. Let me close with this thought from Charles Spurgeon.

He has said, I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes. That every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens.

That the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence. The fall of leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.

God working in the micro as well as the macro. Jesus said, not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from your father, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 10, 29 through 31. Let us pray. Heavenly father, thank you for being mindful of us. We aren't very mindful of ourselves a lot of the times, but you have your eyes upon us. You love us and you are always looking out for your children, working all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to your purpose.

May we rest in that today. May that bring us comfort and peace. We see things that are going on in the world, fills us with anxiety. Jesus is still King. He still reigns. He's still in control. He has paid for our salvation, our inheritance, our entrance into the kingdom of heaven forever.

We can rest in that. And whatever happens to us today is never gonna separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on a Old Testament study When We Understand The Text.